The Boy with the Big Red Bag

Bonjour! J’ ai 22 ans!

Been really busy with studies recently. Projects, presentations, tests and the upcoming exams are giving stress! Of course, not forgetting my responsibilites in JCRC.

Thus far, I have been really fortunate to have wonderful people around me. From my tutorial class to the people in Hall 11, I have made many fantastic friends =)

Its less than a month to exams, hope I can do the last minute power pact revision and score some decent grades! As for my French, all I hope for is a 2.0 for GPA.

As I celebrate another birthday of mine, my wish shall remain the same =)
God bless.

~Till then! A bientot!

PS:Thanks 14 JCRC, Angie, Jonathan, Huishan, Jospeh & Nicholas for celebrating my b’day for me!

Been MIAing for 2 mths plus. In this 2 mths, many things have happened. Some have changed Alvin quite a bit. I wont want to go further…

It has been quite some time since I left my teaching job in Hougang Primary. I kinda miss the colleagues and kids. Of course, the life and money!!! Haha…

Many ppl have since stepped into my life. Great to have them! Ambern, tutorial mates, hall mates…! Haha…I can still remember me being very quiet during the first few days of the FOC until I had to entertain the seniors to get my secret pal, xin lin, using the ‘happy’ joke. Haha…and ever since, I am known as ‘happily’ to some (dunno why but esp hwa hiang).

Life’s been really busy. Didnt expect uni to teach at such a fast pace. Probably NS has made my brain a bit rusty. But thankfully, as an NSPI, I used a bit of my brain powe…if not, it could have been worse. Project is another killer. I hate doing projects, i suck at it man! French is giving me headaches, I dont understand a single thing and the next time i know was to take a test comprising comprehension and composition! Wth?!

Reponsibility and stress level got to a new level as I got into the JCRC as a publicity secretary. However, I am sure Alvin can cope with it! What can I not cope with (aft working with Mr sim)?! He has made me stronger. Of course, my job’s been made easier with frens helping me! Recently, we came up with the Mid-Autumn Festival Banner. It is beautifully done! Thanks to ambern ppl and jcrc! This is my thank-you list:

-Ambern: Huiwen, Russell, Li Huan, Yawen =)

-Jcrc: Shufang, Joan, qiuting, kenny, zena, ziyang, jia hao =)

Yeah I’m right, enjoy the moment (last entry). But I am getting really confused. I hate this kinda feeling! I think I am too paranoid, probably immature…but I do need security too!

What is she thinking? I am really interested to find out. Could Mark have hit the spot? Are we seeking comfort in each other? I really hope it isnt. Oh sorry, I dont know.

Maybe I should take it easy and chill. I thought I could do it, but I just realised that I am not one who can do this. Emotional attachment is far too important to me. Sounds gal? I dont know and I dont care.

Another roller coaster ride for me. I had enough. My weaken heart cant take another thrilling ride. I am going to numb myself…

=)

15 June 07 - Friday

It started of as a pretty normal day, but didnt expect it to be one of the more memorable days of my life. =)

Probably it’s short term, but I dont care. Just enjoy the moment =)

8 June 2007-Friday

Went for a haircut. Cut till very short, very. Want to know how short it is? Follow these instructions (rather hard for girls to visualise)…

1) Close your eyes and relax yourself.

2) Breathe in.

3) Breathe out.

4) Breathe in and hold it there. Hold it…

5) Imagine you are in a army camp and a guy in green walks towards you with his pacestick.

6) You zoom in on his uniform, he has a Guardsman tab. Look closer, and see his hairstyle.

Its how I look now.

Left: Coming to terms with the fact.

Went to PC show at Suntec. As an implusive buyer, I bought a MP4 without even looking at it. I bought because that indian guy shouted "It’s the last 3 sets!" Ok, i thought to myself that it must be something real good. So foolish enough I bought it. It sucks to the core, didnt imagine that a player can be so #%@*&;!!!

Guess what? I left my ATM card with that indian guy and I only noticed my loss the next day. #%@*&;!!!

Forget about this. As I continued with my tour at the fair… I was shocked to know that there was a stall selling arms! They were so blatant about it. Using his loudspeaker, the china man shouted "MP5 on sale! Lai ah! Lai ah!" OMG come to think of it, I am quite a brave soul cos i didnt run for cover. Apologies if I am ignorant, but i seriously think what he was mentioning wasnt MP5 but MP4. MP5=HKMP5 (Sub-machine gun!) Phew…

Luckily no live rounds were on sale… Didnt know now PC Show so sleazy.

Went to beach road army market yesterday and had a bowl of Tang Yuan. There were 6 Tang Yuans to be exact, 4 peanut & 2 sesame. I love the peanut most. It has been such a long time since i last ate tang yuan.

Eating tang yuan brings back memories of my fellow OCTs laughing at me for visiting Chinatown during our precious weekends just to munch TY…miss my bros. (Left:Big white and round Right: Peanut flavour!)                                        

After which, went up to look see look see…and saw those army recruits looking high and low for their much needed items. Sinister as it may sound, but the truth is i laughed at them. hehe…

Had a great day of fun at Bukit Batok HomeTeam NS Bowling centre. Thou my bowling scores were nowhere near the ‘acceptable’ range, i had fun. My lane has ppl like Hao Ran, Susan Lek, Cheryl, Wee San and Nai Man. We even won the most chatty team award! Chatty?! Prize? 2 cakes of Fab soap.

Was offered a position as an admin clerk in HGPS. Desperate. Pay quite ok, but only 4 hrs! Earn what? Well, better than nothing i thought to myself. Really appreciate the nice gesture from Mdm Lim, the vice principal. =)

A chat with Huijuan re-ignited my wish of visiting Thailand during this holiday. But…money…money…not enough. It is never enough, agree?

My prize-New formulated Fab soap! For brighter clothes!

My wants…

1) Crumpler Bag

2) Piercings (ear, nose and tongue)

3) Teva Sandals

4) MP4 player

5) Arsenal Shirt (Home without sponsor)

6) Adidas apparel (Jacket, trackpants & swimming trunks)

7) Timepiece

Weights

9) TV tuner

10) Clothes and more clothes =)

Time flew by so fast, in the blink of an eye it’s already the june holidays and which means i may not be teaching anymore. =(

The past 6 months has been rather memorable for me. From teaching the EM2 to the EM3, I learned a lot about not only the kids but also myself. I guess i am a short tempered person whose paitence runs thin easily…so i dont think i am cut out to be a good teacher.

Sometimes i questioned why i’m not a magician…if i’m one, i would change some of my kids to a smarter & well-behaved group of students. Only if i could.

Guess the younger teachers like me are looked upon as the more ‘hip’ and ‘fun to be with’ teachers. Sometimes, the kids will really pester us as if we are celebrities! haha…come to think of it, i find it rather funny (i enjoy this attention, but not too much!) =D

Have been receiving many presents from my kids too! I didnt even receive this many presents during my birthday! Felt really bad whenever students gave me things that were bought from the bookshop. Why? Because they used their limited amount of cash to buy them! Oh…

Left: Ok, we have 2 ‘hip’ teachers here. Paul Twohill and Alvin Lye.

Right: Cards and presents. =)

Left: 5.3 boys with Eric doing his shadowless budhha stance

Right: 5.3 girls (Junru, yanping, jasmine, wanqi &Wenchiang)

Left:Rauf & kenneth from 5.5

Right:JiaRong & Natalie, Favourites

The heartening moments are the ones that will be deeply entrenched in my memories of HGP. There was once a student of mine (serena) told me in MSN that she wants to grow up and be like me, I told her a straight ‘no’. Why? She asked. I replied that I wanted her to be better than me… =)

Imagine that u are asked to stay back for extra lessons after your afternoon supplementary! The clock showed 4pm and you were scolded for not being able to ace Mr Lye’s spellings. Harsh words followed to embrace your already miserable and drained soul… That was what happened to Abel, the bubbly boy in LSP. Poor boy, more work was given as punishment. His cheerful character began to weaken. Almost in tears. I sent him out of the staff room to do his work. The immediate slience made me realised that i have indeed pushed a boy to his limits, probably i was expecting too much…

"Abel, I do not hate you…Do you know why I’m doing this to u?" I asked.

"I know. You want me to improve so that I can pass my exams." Came the reply. My redden eyes betrayed me. I held back my tears…I felt sorry.